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Convention Theme – July 24th -27th, 2008
“The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire...”
– Horace Walpole
“I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound”.
– George Washington
“I would first conquer enough land to enable me to procure provisions, to live at the expense of the enemy, and to select as the theatre of operations terrain that is most favorable to me; I would hasten to fortify my defensive line before the enemy could appear in the vicinity.”
– Frederick the Great
No less an authority than Winston Churchill called this period of conflict the, “first world war.” This was the height of the lace wars, when kings took the field of battle, formal siege trains followed every army, gentlemen’s courtesy was extended to enemy officers, and the age of linear warfare was almost at its peak. Navies sailed the world over, and formal European armies marched in strange and exotic places, from India to the Caribbean. Great empires were won and lost.
Frederick the Greats’ armies marched into Saxony, with the idea that the low population and high production of agriculture would help sustain him once securely there. He knew that his classic ranks of disciplined Prussian soldiers were more then a match for the polyglot army of the Austrian Empire.
Meanwhile, on the frontier wilds of the colonies in North America, English expansion and French claims came head to head when a young twenty-one year old Virginia militia major named George Washington delivered a summons for the French to vacate the Ohio Valley. One day destined to be the Father of his Country this young ambitious lad would lead adventures of frontier military life the entire young country (and his King) would come to follow. The North American frontier would shortly be in flames as gaudily painted Native Americans, and French and English lords fought everything from small backwoods skirmishes to formal European sieges.
Thus the stage was set, for the great powers of England, France, Austria, Russia, Prussia and a host of lesser world states to partake in truly the “first world war.”
Guests of Honor
t is too early to determine who might be invited, but the Convention Committee is already working on this!
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